LARMANDIER-BERNIER
'Latitude' Extra Brut NV
Grapes | Chardonnay |
Colour | White |
Origin | France, Champagne |
Other | Low-dosage, Practising Organic, Bio-dynamic |
ABV | 12.5% |
Wow. Every sip here is a thrill. The Latitude is a very dry blend of 100% Chardonnay from Vertus (this is in fact an extra-brut), elegant and pure flavours, making for an interesting contrast to the Egly-Ouriet style. Breath-taking wine at this price. Interestingly, the disgorgement date can be found lasered into the glass of each bottle. A sophisticated Aperitif and a dynamite pairing for seafood. L&S (Jan 2007)
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*Case price discount: Mix any 12 bottles of wine (or 9 litre equivalent) or 6 bottles of Champagne, Spirits, Sweet Wine or Fortified (4.5 litres) to get the discounted 'case price' for each bottle.
100% Chardonnay which all come from the same latitude, south of Vertus. Grapes picked as ripe as possible. Pressed, lightly clarified and then into wooden vats and casks. Spontaneous fermentation and natural malo. Aged on lees for the first year without fining or filtering. 40% of this wine comes from the estate's perpetual reserve started in 2004. Sur lattes for at least two years. Each bottle is disgorged by hand.
Smells like lemon cheesecake. There is a seductive cultured-sour-cream richness made piquant by citron fragrance and the piercing, bitter-lifted-oil-perfume of pomelo. Acacia honey daubed onto every small, firm bubble and so the wine feels incredibly silky smooth with a smoke-and-mirrors sense of weight and weightlessness. Drinking range: 2024 - 2027 Rating: 17 Tamlyn Currin - www.JancisRobinson.com (Jun 2023)
Chalky minerality, lemon peel and spring blossom on the palate and the smell of freshly-baked bread. Tiny bubbles. I'd expect most students to get this as a Blanc de Blancs from Champagne. Bonus points for anyone who spots the Extra Brut dosage. (Natasha Hughes MW) Drinking range: 2020 - 2025 Rating: 94 Decanter Magazine (Apr 2020)
An exhilaratingly dry and focused blanc de blancs from a top grower in Champagne.’Victoria Moore, The Daily Telegraph (Dec 2019)
Champagne Larmandier-Bernier
Pierre and Sophie Larmandier and their sons Arthur and now Georges too (joined September 2021) are determined to make wines as true as possible to their origins in their different vineyards. These are split into around fifty separate parcels spread across the Côte des Blancs in the grand cru villages of Cramant, Chouilly, Oger and Avize, and the premier cru of Vertus.
All but three of the parcels (representing 0.5 hectares) are farmed using non-officially certified biodynamic methods. Wines are made only from their own 15 hectares of vines, which are on average 33 years old. All of their Champagnes are the purest expressions of Chardonnay.
Working only with natural yeasts the influence of 'terroir' is all important to the style of his wines, so much so that he uses a minimum 'dosage' (if at all) so as not to mask the wines natural characteristics.
Pierre has recently changed the 'Tradition' cuvée, re-launching it as 'Latitude', and it is now also a Blanc de Blancs, with its origins in the vineyards south of Vertus. The old 'Blanc de Blancs cuvée, which is known henceforth as 'Longitude', comes exclusively from vineyards on the Cote de Blancs itself and is classified Premier Cru'.
The Pinot Noir is now reserved exclusively for Pierre's distinctive dark rosé and for the Vertus Rouge Coteaux Champenois.
Awarded the Robert Parker Green emblem in July 2021.
Champagne & Sparkling Tasting mixed case
Charles has put together twelve bottles that run the gamut of Grower Champagne – from Larmandier-Bernier’s rich Chardonnay, to the fresher, unoaked style of Franck Bonville – or the intriguing blends from the Champagne-solera of Lancelot Pienne or Marc Hébrart's refined 'Special Club'. There are incomparable Pinot Meuniers from Coulon, Mignon & Ullens, as well as Pinot Noir based wines from the great Montagne de Reims villages, including Ambonnay and Bouzy, from the likes of Rodez, Marguet, Maillart & Gonet Médeville.
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